Seracam® Demonstrates Feasibility for Sentinel Lymph Node Imaging at IPET 2024

11 Oct 2024 -- London, UK -- Serac Imaging Systems, the medtech company developing a portable hybrid gamma-optical camera for medical imaging, announces that its clinical partner, the University of Malaya Medical Centre, has today presented initial findings and images acquired using Seracam® for image guided surgery in a sentinel lymph node biopsy procedure at the International Conference on Hybrid Imaging (IPET 2024) organised by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Based on this first user case, the investigators have determined that Seracam® demonstrates clinical feasibility for sentinel lymph node imaging in breast cancer management.

Intan Noorliyana Md Musidek from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya presented the findings in an oral presentation at the conference taking place from 7-11 October 2024 in Vienna. This is the first presentation of results from an ongoing study comparing the detection of sentinel lymph nodes using Seracam® in biopsy procedures in patients with breast cancer with standard gamma probe detection. The study is being led by Dr Aik Hao Ng, senior lecturer at the University of Malaya and clinical medical physicist at the University of Malaya Medical Centre, where the study is taking place.

The presentation highlighted the limitations of current standard gamma probe techniques including: the absence of any visual representation of the radioactive area when using a gamma probe, which provides only audio and numerical signals; the sometimes-limited field of view and lack of precision in determining the exact location of the lymph nodes, and the distance between two adjacent nodes which is governed by signal strength; and finally, the fact that a probe is a single modality, only detecting gamma radiation and does not provide optical or anatomical images.

It also highlighted the technical benefits of Seracam® including its high-resolution hybrid gamma-optical capability featuring a unique co-aligned design for matched gamma and visual fields of view at any angle or distance. The real-time, gamma-optical overlay provides fused images and with integrated collimators within the camera can be automatically changed by touchscreen operation, enabling immediate selection of higher resolution or higher sensitivity settings.

Optical and fused images taken with Seracam® during surgery were presented alongside and compared with large field-of-view images taken before surgery.
The study will recruit twenty patients in total. More will be recruited following the integration of recently developed enhanced software features resulting from an InnovateUK funded project at the University of Loughborough, UK, to optimise Seracam® for intraoperative use.

Mark Rosser, Chief Executive of Serac Imaging Systems, commented: “We are delighted with this initial feedback from the surgical team in Malaysia and believe that the latest software modifications will enhance Seracam’s utility in image guided surgery.”

Dr Aik Hao Ng, clinical medical physicist and senior lecturer at the University of Malaya from the University of Malaya commented: “It is exciting to be the first clinic in the world to use Seracam in this new surgical environment. This initial experience has shown that Seracam demonstrates feasibility for sentinel lymph node imaging in breast cancer management, providing real-time high-resolution hybrid gamma-optical images at the operating table, and has exciting potential in a surgical environment.”

About Serac Imaging Systems 
Serac Imaging Systems Ltd is the medtech company developing a portable hybrid gamma-optical camera for medical imaging. Our lead product is Seracam® which is in development to bring the benefits of high-resolution molecular imaging to a patient’s bedside, instead of being confined for use in a hospital’s nuclear medicine imaging department. A unique feature of Seracam® is the real-time overlay of a gamma image with an optical image of the same anatomical location under examination. Such highly versatile and enhanced imaging technology has the potential to help clinicians make better, more informed and more timely treatment decisions. Seracam® is a UK and EU registered trademark. Serac Imaging Systems Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of Serac Life Sciences Limited. For further details, please see www.seracimagingsystems.com.